Post 1

This is building off what one of my group members was thinking about as well as what we talked about in class.

In class we began to discuss how Herland did not necessarily seem like as sexless utopia, in fact there were many "feminine" qualities to it. In Gilman's Herland, the first three girls that the men see are named Ellador, Celis and Alima. As soon as I read these names their nature struck me as very feminine next to the very masculine Jeff, Vandyck and Terry. Throughout the story, the females have names such as Maudine and Zava with the "dine" and "a" being very common feminine name endings in multiple world languages.

Next, the feline cat in American culture is a very feminine creature and is often a sex symbol for the female sex. (Think of the term "sex-cat", etc). The cat is the only animal besides birds that exists in Herland, and as the men stated:

By the most prolonged and careful selection and exclusion they had developed a race of cats that did not sing! That's a fact. The most those poor dumb brutes could do was to make a kind of squeak when they were hungry or wanted the door open, and, of course, to purr, and make the various mother-noises to their kittens.

Quiet, calm cats who take care of their young sounds like many female housewife women to me.

Also, as someone in my group mentioned, there is the whole "motherhood" deal being the most important concept in Herland.

The feeling in the air on page 19 was even "The most prominent sensation was of absolute physical comfort". Physical comfort given to men from women? Aren't they the first men to be there (and come out alive to record it)?

Finally, how on page 15 Herland is described as:

I have often groaned at home to see the offensive mess man made in the face of nature, even though I'm no art sharp, like Jeff. But this place! It was built mostly of a sort of dull rose-colored stone, with here and there some clear white houses; and it lay abroad among the green groves and gardens like a broken rosary of pink coral.

Also, the trees, flowers, and fruit (fertility, maybe?) are also picked out as beautiful (and implying utopian quality). Between the color scheme and the landscape, the country itself seems very "feminine".

So, I have a few topics to discuss about this. What are some examples of the non-feminine or "masculine" qualities about Herland (if there are any)? What is the balance of "feminine" qualities of the women in Herland versus the non-feminine or "masculine" qualities (if there are any)? Then, what does this tell about culture versus nature? Perhaps, the author is implying that culture creates the idea of femininity, and culture has engrained all of these characteristics as feminine in the readers minds, but really even when enclosed from other culture's influences (like the women of Herland having no connection with the outer world), these things would still exist in nature, Aka culture does not produce sex, nature does. Perhaps, the author was just ignorant in writing her piece of all the "feminine" characteristics she added, AKA culture does produce sex.

Thoughts?